No big shocker at first glance. Of course the iPad Air 2, a device that’s just now landing into the hands of rabid fans, is faster than the year-old device that it’s intended to replace. Yes, the iPad Air 2 is faster, but it’s the way that it’s faster that is truly noteworthy.

The A8X processor that’s nestled deep within the confines of the iPad Air 2’s new slim and trim body is, for the first time in the history of iOS devices, a 1.5Ghz triple-core processor. The iPad Air 2 also features a healthy 2GB of RAM. Coincidentally, the 2GB of RAM is also a first for any iOS device.

Needless to say, the iPad Air 2 is a beast on paper, but it’s no mere paper tiger. This thing screams, and the first benchmarks posted on MacRumors comparing it to previous iOS devices are proving that point.

In multi-core benchmarks, the iPad Air 2 makes mincemeat out of its closest competition—the just released iPhone 6. It scored a whopping 4477 on the Geekbench 3 multi-core score, or more than 1.6 times the iPhone 6.

Single-core benchmarks, while unsurprisingly less of a separation, still rested handily in the iPad Air 2’s favor, with a 1812 single-core score vs 1609 from the next closest competitor, which was again the iPhone 6.

Apple really has pushed it up a few notches with its iPad Air 2. It began touting “desktop class hardware” with the release of the iPhone 5s, but now Apple’s hardware engineers are really starting to put their money where their mouth is.

We’ll just have to wait until the benchmarks comparing the iPad Air 2 to competing tablets, like the soon-to-be-released Nexus 9, begin to surface. That’ll paint an interesting picture for sure.

Even more interesting is to see why Apple felt the need for so much power? I mean, I understand the inclusion of 2GB of RAM, but a 1.5Ghz triple-core CPU? Are they just future-proofing their hardware, or will we begin to see integrated software (i.e. true side-by-side multitasking) take advantage of the extra power much sooner than later?

Has the revelation that the iPad Air 2 is a beast of a machine changed your opinion of it? Drop your thoughts below.